The ousting of a former prime minister is the latest spat in a decades-long rift in Greece’s ruling New Democracy political party.

Former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was kicked out of New Democracy with an announcement Saturday, after To Vima published an interview with Samaras that featured varied and strident critique of the current PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

This is not the first time that Samaras has clashed with Mitsotakis, and not the first time he has left the party. Samaras also left New Democracy in 1992, at the impetus of the father of the current prime minister, who was then serving as premier himself. This expulsion, like Samaras’ previous exit, belays deep fissions within New Democracy about its political positioning, its voter base, and its direction going forward.

Critiques from Samaras

In a front-page interview in this Sunday’s To Vima, Samaras lambasted the current direction of his party and its leadership. “I have said before that our ship needs a compass,” he said. “I mean that it lacks a vision, a narrative for society: where we are, where we are going, and where we want to go.”

Most of his critiques centered around New Democracy’s foreign policy, and specifically its approach to Turkey. Samaras insisted that the party was being too soft with Turkey and engaging in dialogue with an unreliable partner. He argued that negotiations with Turkey regarding maritime zones are essentially farcical, stating: “Simply put, Turkey is asking that we agree in advance that we are losing jurisdiction over our islands – that is, the economic exploitation of vast maritime areas.”

In recent months New Democracy has made several inroads in communication with Turkey. Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis met with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan earlier this month, and Prime Minister Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan are scheduled to meet in Ankara in January.

Yet Samaras also critiqued Greece’s dealings with Albania, New Democracy’s handling of inflation and the economy, and complained about immigration.

“All the societies of the West are moving to the right, and we are trying to open up to some sort of political ‘center’!” argued Samaras. “And in any case, it is not a centrist policy to permanently “appease” Turkish provocations.”

These critiques are not new. Samaras has been vocal previously about his discontent with New Democracy’s approach to Turkey, lodged complaints about cooperation with the EU, and pointedly opposed New Democracy’s bill to legalize marriage equality.

“Samaras has built his entire political career on matters of foreign policy, and a hawkish view of foreign policy,” said George Giannakopoulos, a Lecturer in Modern History at the University of London and member of the Political Studies Association’s Greek Politics Specialist Group. “That goes back to the early 90s. This is in the DNA of Samaras’ political career— appearing to be hawkish on matters of foreign policy.”

Yet Giannakopoulos underlined that Samaras’ complaints go deeper. “From Samaras’s perspective, I would say he has an anguish that the party is moving away from policies or rhetoric that cater to a conservative right-wing audience. And is moving more towards the center.”

Roots of Contention

Contention between Samaras and Mitsotakis goes back a generation, when Samaras worked alongside Konstantinos Mitsotakis. “Samaras emerged on the Greek political scene as a hopeful young politician who was working very closely with Mitsotakis the father. He was a young confidant working through the ranks of the party in the late 80s and early 90s,” Giannakopoulos told To Vima International Edition.

In 1989 Samaras was appointed as the minister of foreign affairs. Yet with the collapse of Yugoslavia, the naming dispute over the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, now North Macedonia, erupted. “At the time the young confidant of the prime minister, took a different approach on the matter, he was much more hawkish,” said Giannakopoulos. In the midst of this disagreement Mitsotakis dismissed Samaras from his position, and in 1992 Samaras withdrew from the party. Thus “breaking ties with his mentor Mistotakis, and also essentially depriving New Democracy of its thin parliamentary majority,” explained Giannakopoulos. “Therefore rendering Mitsotakis the father a one-term prime minister who didn’t even last the full term.”

Samaras formed the conservative Political Spring party for a brief stint, but in 2004 he returned to New Democracy. He worked his way back up the party ranks and was elected party president in 2009, and served as prime minister through some of the worst years of the financial crisis, from 2012 to 2015. He has retained his positioning as a stark conservative on both domestic and international issues.

In the announcement dismissing him from the New Democracy on Saturday, government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis stated: “As we’ve said many times before, former prime ministers retain a special privilege to express their views and concerns on policy matters from time to time. However, Mr. Samaras, during his last interview didn’t express any views. He did express his total disagreement with current government policy, in its entirety.”

What This Means for New Democracy

Samaras’ expulsion from New Democracy unearths ongoing questions about the direction of the party– where it will stand on social issues, foreign affairs, and the economy. Though the party handedly won the past two national elections and holds a comfortable majority in parliament, the far-right has also gained ground, and for the past few months the blue party has suffered a nose-dive in approval rates. There is ongoing soul-searching about if the party should move further to the right or left to retain votes, and on which issues.

There are rumors that some members of parliament could follow Samaras, and thus threaten New Democracy’s hold on a parliamentary majority, but the government seemed to hint that this would not happen, pointedly stating: “This time, however, history will not repeat itself. The ruling majority is steadily continuing on its course without Mr. Samaras. No one has the right to play games with the country’s stability amid these troubled times.”

Elections are not for another two years, and though New Democracy’s approval ratings have fallen steeply, they are still performing far better than any other party.

“New Democracy has managed ever since 1974 really to remain, despite crises within, a catch-all center-right wing political party, even after everything collapsed in the center-left,” said Giannakopoulos. “As things stand right now, I don’t see a path where New Democracy will split as a party. I don’t see them being weakened politically in parliament. Perhaps Samaras could  play some sort of role in uniting the right-wing populist parties. But I don’t think it’s an existential moment for New Democracy.”